colin powell: yes. when he took over we were in one of the... worst recessions we had seen in recent times... close to a depression. and i saw, over the next several years, stabilization... come back in the financial community. housing is starting to pick up. the president saved the auto industry. and the actions he's taken with respect to... protecting us from terrorism have been very, very solid. and so, i think we ought to keep on the track that we are on. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

was this your call? >> you know, the movie was john

stockwell and one of the producers of hurt locker's call but i went out of my way as john will verify to get a republican cia operative at the highest level, a republican navy s.e.a.l. and one of the leading historians in the world not american to bet all of the things in the film. i wanted the opposition to bet it. the president comes out heroic because he makes the decision by himself. hillary clinton and panetta say go, do the raid. joe biden and gates say don't do it. the president thinks overnight this is in the movie and says, give me one hour from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. the next day and authorizes the raid. it's not political, tis historical. i would not do anything political when it comes to making one of my movies. >> john stockwell, talk about what drew you to this topic, the drama, how compelling this is as

harvey says, how historic it is and all of that is evident and there are other films and books about this. what draws you to this project? >> honestly i was very nervous because it's one of those pieces that very hard to vet. we started the process long before mark's book. but i just found it fascinating, we know the outcome but the behind the scene wrangling that occurred, within the int intelligence community and white house were all interesting to me. again, to go to the president's involvement, i think to me it's unfortunate that certain people are unwilling to give the president partial credit for green lighting the raid. i'm certain if the helicopter crash resulted in dead americans, if osama bin laden had not been there, he would be taking the blame and this election would be much different. >> there's no question. i have talked to senior intelligence officials who worked in a previous

administration who have said to me this was an incredibly gutsy call, had things gone otherwise, it would have had enormous political consequences. >> it would be jimmy carter. >> like jimmy carter right. harv harv harvey wienstein, we're seeing more and more films that take on current events, almost in real time. the interest level again, i suppose is self-evident, but why do we see it without the benefit of time lag? >> i think the technology is instant and yus, there are video cameras that can make it instantaneos, so you can do it in record time and this movie was done that way and a lot of it is the use of video cameras for a lot of scenes. we can process it instantly.

>> john, originally some reporting that you had video from mitt romney part of the film. why was that no longer part of the film in the end? >> there was an attempt to give context to the president's decision and obviously not just mitt romney but hillary clinton and joe biden and many others said long before the mission that they thought it would be mistake to go into our central ally on the war of terror unannounced and barack obama said he would do it. there was mitt romney news footage that he talked about it and it was removed. >> david, i want to talk to that, "national geographic" took that film out but netflix is playing with the clip restored. it's so we see in the clip mitt romney say definitively he would

not pursue osama bin laden into pakistan and not worth spending billions to kill bin laden. what is in the movie is joe biden's initial opposition in 2008 and other people, edwards, so many people and try to be very fair about that. but mitt romney is definitive and i guess they thought having him say what he said, would have put it in a political context. but then the president's speech is so much different. he said, if we have him in our sights, in 2008, i would move heaven and earth and do everything in my power to kill him. if you were interviewing commanders in chief, there's no question you would take the guy who makes the decision and not the guy who's so indecisive. >> you're talking with mitt romney and i want to stick with you for just a moment. i remember when you were filling in on cnn and interviewing

former president clinton and said look, his business record is a good thing, has a lot of qualifications, but you say mitt romney is not qualified to be president. even those who oppose mitt romney, that's not a criticism that's often lodged. what disqualifies him from running the country in your judgment? >> i take colin powell's point of view, when he says that you know, the president rescueed the economy when it was failing, romney never gives him credit for that, which would be the fair thing to do. the president didn't inherit a healthy economy but a great recession caused by bush, two wars and previous administration. and also general powell talks about how that his foreign decisions, i'll keep troops in afghanistan, won't keep troops in afghanistan, these indesisive things are not what makes the word go around. i personally was with david

cameron when mitt romney came to london to talk about the olympics and managed to insult the british. the british, our number one ally by criticizing their handling of the olympics. david cameron said, mitt romney has achieved the impossible, united every party in england against him. >> john, what are the criticisms even on left about president obama, there's been some frustration, whether his debate performance or someone a leader with great oratorical skills, his vision for the country on his own policies, health care and what it went through are somewhat lacking. do you think that explains in part why the election is so close? >> of course, i mean look, it's tough to compete with bill clinton in that field. i think the president is very

inspiring. and i think all of the things we don't show in the movie, the closed door meetings he has with panetta where he says put bin laden at the front of the to do list, he plays things close to the vest. and i think there's an element of perhaps he could be a better smoozer, a guy who says whatever needs to be said to get things done. i think he's fairly principled. in terms of the decision to green light the raid, i think it was a politically unwise call. it was a -- something that had much more political downside than upside. >> harvey, a big fundraiser for president obama, you understand and know a lot of people in the community who are supportive of the president. if he wins re-election, what kind of restart would you like to see from this president to have a different effect on what he's able to achieve in a second

term if it comes to that? >> well, not inheriting a recession from the previous administration and now the economy is stabilizing, i'm ceo of a fairly large sized company. in '08, we were on the ropes, now the company is wildly successful and so many of my friends' companies and jobs are starting to stabilize and housing, improvements in the housing industry. i think now let's give him the clean start that he didn't have four years ago and i think he should concentrate on the economy as the number one priority because we know that his foreign policy keeps us safer. he's tough overseas killed more terrorists than bush did in eight years. he's a hawk when it comes to foreign policy. i want him to concentrate on the economy and jobs. he had to bailout the auto industry, now that they are doing well, let's see what he's f he can do when he's given an

even hand. >> we'll be more with harvey weinstein and director stock well after this. president obama: there's just no quit in america...

and you're seeing that right now. over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... rising. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the... last thing we should do is turn back now. here's my plan for the next four years: making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting american-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where... we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. and ending the war in afghanistan, so we can... do some nation-building here at home. that's the right path.

so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote... so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message. harvey, a question that i've always thought about, your reputation is anybody that is fearless in terms of making selections about films and very diverse in your choices. what informs your gut and your head about kind -- the kinds of

projects to take on? >> well, you know, sometimes people laugh, the movies when they first hear about them. i know my staff when i said i'm making a movie about a stuterring king, he's out of his mind and became "the king's speech." last year when i did the artist, and had to tell the board of directors of my company, we have this movie, it's in black and white. okay, who's he? they don't know. there's one other thing, it's silent. they say, you're just out of your mind. won the academy award last year and now you think you can make a silent movie. i go with my heart and go emotionally and try to take subject matter from chocolate to cider house rules to quentin tarantino